Dota 2 Manila Masters 2017 Review

31 May 2017 16:26

Evil Geniuses triumphed at The Dota 2 Manila Masters after a sensational 3-1 victory over Newbee in the best-of-five Grand Final at the Mall of Asia Arena. Eight teams ferociously competed against each other in a best-of-three, double-elimination bracket, before the US-based team were crowned champions, taking home $125,000 of the $250,000 prize pool.

The Format

The tournament from the 25th to 28th of May was made up of five direct invites and three qualifying teams from local regions. Evil Geniuses, OG, Newbee, Team Secret and Team NP were the direct invites, with Invictus Gaming progressing from the Chinese qualifiers after a 3-1 final victory over LGD Gaming. The South-East Asia qualifiers saw Team Faceless make it through after beating Mineski.GGNetwork 2-1 in their respective final, whilst Clutch Gamers’ 3-1 win over TNC Pro Team secured their qualification from the Philippines section.

Evil Geniuses’ Route to Victory and Players

The first day of the four-day event saw Evil Geniuses progress to the semi-finals after a 2-0 victory over Team Faceless. A 2-1 triumph over Invictus Gaming in the semis set up a mouth-watering Winners Final against Newbee, where they came up short 2-0. Evil Geniuses’ loss saw them face Team NP in the Losers’ Final, which they won 2-1, before beating Newbee in the Grand Final to avenge their earlier loss.

The newly-crowned Manila Masters champions were captained by 20-year-old Andreas ‘Cr1t’ Nielsen, a Danish gamer who has been with the team since September 2016. Previously part of the OG team who won The Manila Major 2016 after a 3-1 victory over Team Liquid in the best-of-five grand final, Nielsen’s impressive performances last year led him to being named MVP of the Tournament.

In this year’s Manila Masters Grand Final against Newbee, his Evil Geniuses teammates were Saahi Arora, Ludwig Wahlberg, Artour Babaev and Syed Sumail Hassan. They played as a collective unit initially, winning the first game in 28 minutes 52 seconds, before losing the second game. However, they quickly regrouped to claim consecutive victories in the next two games to take home the title. Their invaluable second and third victories came in 61 minutes 38 seconds and 50 minutes 39 seconds. Since joining the team, Nielsen has also led Evil Geniuses to first place finishes in the Mars Dota 2 League 2016 Autumn, China Top 2016 and Dota Pit League Season 5. They’ll be looking to continue this streak of form in upcoming events throughout the year.

The Prize Pool

The $250,000 prize pool was split amongst teams based on their overall finish:

1st place: Evil Geniuses - $125,000

2nd place: Newbee - $50,000

3rd place: Team NP - $25,000

4th place: Team Faceless - $20,000

5th place: Invictus Gaming - $10,000

6th place: OG - $10,000

7th place: Team Secret – $5,000

8th place: Clutch Gamers - $5,000

Evil Geniuses, Newbee and others can now look forward to a potential place in annual Dota 2 highlight, The International, beginning in August.